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Adventures in Cloth Diaper Making – Part 3

After my second prototype was a smashing success, I set to making twenty diaper covers using patterned flannelette and white PUL purchased from Kinderel. For organic fabric in Canada, they’re great and shipped really fast too!

Stacked!

If you’re just joining me, here is Part 1 and Part 2 of my cloth diaper making adventures.

I’m still waiting on my snaps and snap fastening pliers to come in from KAM snaps, which is the only place I could find to get good quality snaps that aren’t metal. I found one Canadian reseller, but they seem to be continually sold out of this product. Obviously it’s in high demand!

So for today, I’m making the liners of the diapers, often called soakers.

I looked at a bunch of different kinds, and decided on a tri-fold style. Because I live in an apartment and we have to pay for our laundry per load, I’m going to be hand washing and air drying the diapers, liners and wipes, so I wanted to make sure that the liners weren’t too thick so they would dry in a good amount of time. The tri fold method means that I can have less layers of fabric, and when unfolded, it’ll dry a lot faster!

I decided on a thick flannel for a nice absorbent layer, and the cheap white diaper flannelette from Fabricland (which just happens to be on sale for $4.00/meter this week!) for the outer layer. 100% cotton wicks away moisture really well, so that means less irritant on baby’s skin!

Stack of flannel rectangles.

In my research around the internet, I came across this article that outlines the different kinds of fabrics that work well for diaper liners, and has some general dimensions on all kinds of different liners. I measured my diaper covers, and the 12″x16″ suggested newborn dimensions fit perfectly inside. So I measured and cut out 13″x17″ rectangles to give myself a seam allowance. I got 30 out of the fabric I had, which was pretty boss.

I’ll use photos from patterned flannelette for ease of seeing what’s happening.

Bottom layer thick flannel, top layer thin flannelette.

I didn’t worry about cutting terribly straight (like I could anyway!) because I used a serger all the way around the edges. If you’re not using a serger, you can use a zigzag stitch and then trim off of the excess. Or if you want to get really fancy, you can sew the fabric right sides together with a straight stitch, flip right sides out and then use a straight or zigzag topstitch all the way around the border to flatten the rectangle, much in the same way the diaper covers are made. I find the first method much easier, and really the point is for it to absorb fecal matter so I don’t think it necessarily needs to be pretty!

Serge ahoy!

Once finished, I ended up with a nice neat rectangle, ready for maximum excrement absorption!

On my actual ones, I did a rounded edge, but corners are fine too.

I did a test run with the pink one and soaked it through with hot water, wrung it out and hung it to dry in my bathroom. I continually checked it throughout the day and it took just over six hours to dry. I’m not officially a mom yet, but I’m pretty sure it’s safe to say that I won’t be going through 30 diapers in six hours. So that drying time is pretty good for how absorbent these are!

To use these, fold both long edges into the center of the rectangle, overlapping in the center.

Then place into the diaper, and voila! Removable soaker so that (hopefully) you can get extra uses out of the cover.

So I’ve got 20 diaper covers in five cute patterns, and 30 tri folds, all ready set and go for baby! I’m planning on using the next while to stock up on more fabric in case I need to make more in the near future, or try a different tactic if we don’t like the diapers.

Just chillin on the side of the crib, waiting for snaps.

The adventures will continue with making diaper wipe solution and reusable wipes, and then conclude with adding the snaps to the diapers!